The port city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. / Credit: Tahir mq, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 16, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
InSaudiArabia,atheocraticmonarchywhereIslamistheofficialandonlypermittedreligion,religiousfreedomdoesnotexist.However,accordingtodatamaintainedbytheApostolicVicariateofNorthernArabia,aconsiderablenumberofCatholicsliveinitsvastterritory—whichcoversmorethan772,200squaremiles,slightlylargerthanMexico.
“Thevastmajorityofnon-Muslimshavenoreligiousfreedom.Amongthem,therearemorethan1millionCatholics,”explainedBishopAldoBerardi,whohasheadedthisecclesiasticaljurisdictionsince2023,whichalsoincludesKuwait,Qatar,andBahrain.Theentireapostolicterritoryishometonearly35millionpeople,ofwhommorethan2millionareCatholics.
Unlikeothercountriesintheregionthathaveshownsmallsignsofreligiousopenness—suchasQatar,wheretheconstructionofachurchcomplexwaspermittedin2008—whenitcomestoreligiousfreedomSaudiArabiaremainsoneofthemostrestrictivestatesintheworld,asreportedbyorganizationssuchasOpen
